Give 'Em Hell
by Makenziejh
Summary: Gloria Flexgear was positive that she wouldn't have to compete in the 65th hunger games because of the volunteers for this year, but when her name is called and no one volunteers for her, she is forced into the games without any idea how to fight. Terrible summary. The story is better, I swear.


I woke to the warmth of the sun and the smell of the sea. It took me a moment for my eyes to adjust to the bright light and after blinking furiously for a couple of moments, I climbed out of bed and walked to the front room of our tiny house. My dad stood in front of our small stove heating up a pot of coffee for the both of us. We both knew what day it was and I knew that's why he let me sleep in. School was closed on days like this. It was reaping day. I was 16, which means my name was still thrown in with the rest of the kids in our district, not that it mattered. Reaping day for most of the kids in our district was just a nuisance because we knew whoever had their name called was just going to be replaced by a volunteer. These kids have been trained from a young age to be killers and when they were trained enough to volunteer, they were seen as heroes.

"Good morning, princess!" My dad said over his shoulder.

"Hey, dad." I mumble in response. My name wasn't actually "Princess", obviously. It was Gloria, Glo for short. My nickname sounded like something that came from district 1, but I didn't mind. I sat at the table as my dad slid me a cup of coffee. I sipped it gratefully

He took a seat across from me. "Are you ready for today?"

I let out a sigh. "I'm not even sure why the rest of us have to go. We all know who is going to volunteer." This year it was going to be a 17-year-old monster of a girl and a 14-year-old boy with the face of a god.

"It's all for show, Hun. We aren't even supposed to be training kids for the games, but we do."

I took another sip of my coffee, sighed, then stood up and walked back to my room. The reaping was going to start soon and I needed to look nice. I bathed the night before, so I still had the nice clean smell wafting from me. My dad had laid a nice looking dress (the only one I owned) out at the end of my bed. I pulled off the clothes I slept in and pulled the pale pink cotton material over my head. I rubbed the soft material between my fingers and turned to my full length mirror that my father had got me for my 13th birthday. We weren't as poor as the majority of Panem, but we certainly weren't rich by any standard.

In the mirror, I looked myself over. After seeing the state of my hair, I quickly ran my fingers through it. My hair was brunette with blonde highlights running through it. It went all the way down past my shoulder blades and had a nice wave in it because of the sea salt. Everything in my district was effected by the salt. My skin had a nice tan to it from being out in the sun constantly. My eyes were a light green color that reminded me of mint, with little flecks of gold around the pupil. I left my hair down and walked out of my bedroom again.

My dad smiled. "You look beautiful, Glo."

"Thanks, Dad. Are you going to the reaping?" I asked in hopes he would say no. There was no point in him coming to these things.

"Yes. I do every year. You know that." He kissed my forehead and watched me as I walked out the door.

It was about 7:30 in the morning. The reaping wasn't until 8:30, so I decided to walk down the street to a small bakery down the street that a family friend owned. As I walked in a tiny bell on the door rang like it was saying "welcome" but what was waiting behind the door wasn't all that welcoming. A giant of a man rushed at me, put me in a headlock, and rubbed his knuckles into my scalp.

"Kai! Stop it! I just got my hair looking good!" I shout from under his arm.

He laughed and let me go. Kai was 19 and built like a buffalo. He stood at 6'3" and had light blonde hair, bleached from the sun, it was curly and stood out against his tanned, toned body. "Oh, Glo, lighten up. You used to love that when you were little."

"No I didn't! It hurts! Where's Pontius?" I asked. Pontius is Kai's little brother. He is my age and is almost an exact replica of Kai, just smaller and quieter, which I appreciate. Kai was loud.

"He's out back. He'll be here in a second. Ready for the reaping?"

I grunted in response. "I guess. Is there any day old bread that I can have?"

He smiled. "You're in luck! We have some freshly aged bread just for you." I wasn't allowed to take the fresh bread, because they still had a chance to sell that to paying customers, so I had to settle for stale bread.

"Oh, come on, Kai. It's reaping day, give her something good." I looked over to where the voice was coming from and found Kai's little brother. He smiled when he saw me."Hey, Glo. Come here. I'll split a piece of bread with you." Pontius made his way around the counter and reached into the display case and pulled out a fresh piece of bread. He ripped it apart and handed the bigger piece to me.

Pontius had always been nice to me. We grew up together. We were like family. I took a bite of the bread. It was salty and delicious. "You look beautiful today, by the way." Pontius said as he brushed a stray hair from my face.

"Thank you," I respond with a mouthful of food. "And you look rather dashing yourself." He was wearing a light blue shirt that I recognized was his brother's shirt from a couple of reapings ago.

He smirked. "What brings you down this way? You haven't come visit the bakery for a couple of weeks."

"Free food, and I came to get you. I figured we could walk to the reaping together."

"Aww! That's so adorable!" Kai shouts from behind me. I didn't even dignify that by turning around to him, but Pontious glared at him with such intensity that Kai decided to leave. "I'll see you two at the reaping."

After Kai escaped out the back door, Pontius draped his arm around my shoulder and lead me out the door still eating my bread. "Did you hear that the boy volunteer is only 14?" I asked with a mouthful of bread.

Luckily, he understood me. "Yeah, he is supposed to be some kind of prodigy. I think he will do well. I don't think the girl will be as good."

I smirked. "She probably won't get any sponsors unless she gets good scores in the private training. We all know the prettiest people get the sponsors, and she is not pretty."

It was around 8 by the time we got to the Justice Building where everything was set up for the reaping. They had large banners hanging over buildings to cover up how ugly they were. There was a large screen set up so they can play the same clip they do every year to remind us all why they do the Hunger Games. The Capitol doesn't want another revolution on their hands, now do they? By the time we were both checked in it was almost time for the reaping. Pontius gave me a little wave before he separated from me to go join the other boys his age and I went to my designated area. I didn't really like the girls my age. They were al nice enough, but I just don't like talking to them, or they don't like talking to me. Either way, every time I try to strike up a conversation with them they just seem to blow me off, so I stopped trying. I'd rather hang out with guys anyway.

I stood there for a couple of moments before the major, the mentors for this year, and the representative from the capitol came out of the justice building to begin the reaping. The square was completely packed with family members waiting to hear who was going to be drawn to go to the Hunger Games, but even with all those people, the entire square got quiet as the major took the podium. He didn't say much, just introduced the representative, then handed over the podium. The representative from the Capitol this year was named Vodillia Sparkles, but she informed us that she liked to be called Ms. Sparkles, I didn't blame her. Vodillia was an ugly name. Ms. Sparkles sported a bright pink trench coat, even though it was summer and almost 90 degrees out. The only thing you could see under the trench was and enormous amount of ruffles coming from the collar that swallowed up her neck, making her look shorter than she actually was. The lack of neck, however, was made up for by her wig. It was a neon purple color with bright green streaks going threw it. It was styled like a beehive and stood at an astounding 8 inches high. I was amazed that it stayed on her head.

For more than a couple moments, I was completely consumed with starting at this lady, and when I finally realized that she had been talking for a good 15 minutes, she had just announced that she was about to draw names. "Let's let the ladies go first, shall we?"

As Ms. Sparkles reached into the girl's reaping ball, I scanned the crowd of girls in search of the volunteer for this year. It didn't take too long to find her, because she was taller than all the other girls, but when I finally did see her, she was all ready looking at me. In fact, everyone was looking at me.

"Where is Gloria Flexgear? Anyone?" Ms. Sparkles cheery voice echoed over the speakers. That was my name. She had called my name. Frantically, I look back to the volunteer girl. She didn't look at me anymore. Instead, she had broke down crying, making awful noises that I didn't believe were humanly possible. She didn't say a word though. She didn't even make a motion to try and volunteer.

"What's wrong with you?" I shout towards her. The girl still didn't look up. No one spoke. "You're supposed to volunteer." Still nothing. Before I know it two peacekeepers start dragging me towards the stage. I'm not sure what all I was yelling, but it was loud and probably not appropriate for television. "I'm not supposed to be up here! Save me!" I cry out as the peacekeepers throw me on the stage.

"Well, aren't you a feisty one?" Ms. Sparkles says before dipping her hand into the boy's names. I didn't respond. I just watched as she pulled the piece of paper out. She said a name, but I didn't hear it. I spent my time glaring at the girl who was supposed to be on the stage. The girl who was supposed to take my place. That was her job.

"I volunteer as tribute," I hear the god-faced boy say. The next couple moments pass by fast. They have us shake hands, then we are rushed into the Justice Building and I am put into a small room. I sit there a couple of moments before I hear the door open. My first visitor was the one person I didn't want to see. The girl who was supposed to take my spot in the reaping. Tear stains ran down her face, her eyes were puffy, and her nose was runny, but I had only one thing to say to her.

"You've killed me."

She fell to the floor in a puddle of sadness. I felt no sorrow for this girl. She was supposed to take my place in the Hunger Games. She had been training since she could walk to compete and she had been paid for it. People were starving in the streets and she was living a life of luxury because she was going to compete in the Hunger Games and become a hero to all of our district. Instead, at the last moment, she decided to become a coward and not speak up.

"I wanted to say it," she cried. "I wanted to volunteer, but the words- I just couldn't do it. I couldn't bring myself to say them. I wasn't going to survive the Games. I would die. I can't die."

That's when the peacekeepers came and took her away. My next visitor was Kai. Somehow, he looked so much smaller than he did earlier that day. "Hey, Glo."

"Hey, Kai," I said.

"How you feeling?"

Tears were starting to threaten spilling over. "Oh, you know, I've been better."

"I'm so sorry." I've never seen Kai cry, but he did. Silent tears spilled down his cheeks as he wrapped me in a huge bear hug. We stood there for a couple of moments, until the peacekeeper came in again and ushered him out and brought Pontius in. That's when I lost it. The tears blurred my vision, but not enough to miss that he was crying too. He took me by the shoulders and forced me to look him in the eye.

"Glo. You have to listen to me. Okay? You have to win this. Win this for me. You are strong. I've seen you take down guys twice your size. Twice my size." Pontius kissed my forehead and rested his forehead on mine. "You need to stay strong, stay safe, and give 'em hell. You got that? Promise me."

I looked him in the eye. "I don't know if I can."

"Damn it, Gloria. Promise me you will come home to me. You have to. You have to because I love you."

"Pontius. I-I-" I was cut off by the peacekeeper coming back. He grabbed Pontius by the arm when he struggled to stay with me. Before he was completely shut off from me, Pontius managed to pull off the ring he wore and toss it towards me. The door shut as it landed at my feet. I could literally feel my heart breaking as I leaned down to pick it up. I slipped it on my thumb because it was the only finger it fit on without fear of it falling off.

The door opened a crack, then my parents ran in. My mother, who had been working earlier in the morning, was balling, making me cry even more. They both wrapped me in their arms. We said nothing the entire time, just sat together and we knew our time was almost up, My parents kissed me and told me how much they loved me. Then they were gone. Everyone I ever loved was gone. Forever.


End file.
